Tag: cosy mystery

Sapere Books Sign New Cosy Crime Series by Amy Licence

Following the success of The Marwood Family Tudor Saga, we are delighted to announce that we have signed a new Sherlock Holmes-inspired cosy crime series by Amy Licence.

In Amy’s words:

“Tucked away in a sleepy Sussex village, Sherlock Holmes’ great-great niece Charlotte Holmes wants nothing more than to run her antiquarian bookshop in peace and quiet. Divorced, and with her grown-up children having flown the nest, she’s looking forward to reading her way through the shelves, attending quiz nights with best friend Nell, and going out for dinner with handsome lecturer Toby. But then a young woman unexpectedly turns up in answer to an advert she placed for a housemate, whose name just happens to be Scarlet Watson. It seems too much of a coincidence, but when the landlady of the local pub is murdered, the pair team up to solve the crime, and Scarlet’s infectious enthusiasm wins Charlotte over. But is the new arrival all she seems? What secrets is Scarlet hiding?

“A Study in Scarlet is the first book in my new cosy crime series, inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories. I’ve always loved reading detective fiction and, as an English teacher, I have been reading the Holmes stories with my classes for twenty years. I felt it was a perfect addition to the genre, imagining a modern setting for some familiar devices, swapping the gender of the detective, and keeping a literary twist — my heroine loves reading! Each book is based on one of the original stories and Holmes fans will love spotting the overlap and solving the crime.

“I’m delighted to be branching out with Sapere Books into another genre that I’ve always loved. Books two and three in the series are already planned and ready to be written, with more sleepy village intrigue, plus some local festival glamour, but always remaining true to the Holmes genre.”

Discover more about Amy here.

Happy Publication Day to Elizabeth Bailey!

Congratulations to Elizabeth Bailey, whose page-turning Georgian mystery, The Hanging Cheat, is published today!

The Hanging Cheat is the tenth book in the Lady Fan Mystery series: historical  murder mysteries with a courageous woman sleuth embarking on traditional British, private investigations in eighteenth-century England.

1796, England

Heavily pregnant Lady Ottilia Fanshawe should not really be travelling. But when her sister-in-law dies, she goes with her husband Francis to comfort her brother and her two nephews.

And of course it’s not long before the services of her alter-ego, Lady Fan, are required.

While playing in the woodlands, the two boys come across a gruesome discovery. A dead man is hanging from a tree.

The corpse is quickly identified as the local justice, Hector Penkevil, a man universally disliked for his meanness.

And it’s soon clear that his death was not suicide, but murder.

With Penkevil so disliked in the community, how can Lady Fan narrow down the suspects? Will she find the killer?

And can she solve the mystery before she is forced to bed with her pregnancy…?

Happy Publication Day to Laura Martin!

Congratulations to Laura Martin, whose gripping historical murder mystery, Death of a Lady, is published today!

Death of a Lady is first book in the Jane Austen Investigation series: thrilling Regency-era murder mysteries with a tenacious literary heroine working as a female sleuth.

1795, Hampshire, England

Jane Austen and her family are delighted to be attending Lord Wentworth’s ball. The event has been at the centre of village gossip after it was announced Wentworth was holding a ball to celebrate the return of his brother, who went missing in India many years earlier and had been declared dead.

At the ball an old friend, Emma Roscoe, bumps into Jane and tells her she saw something she shouldn’t have. She asks Jane to meet her at ten o’clock in the library to discuss it.

Delayed by dancing with the charming Mr Tom Lefroy, Jane is late to meet to her friend.

But when she arrives, she finds the body of Emma Roscoe lying on the floor with a dagger sticking out of her chest.

Distraught and feeling horribly guilty, Jane is determined to help with the investigation into Emma’s murder.

Was it a coincidence that the murder happened on the night of Lord Wentworth’s brother being reintroduced to society? What did Emma see that was worth killing her over?

And could more people be in danger?

With the help of her sister Cassandra, Jane must use her wit and intelligence to get to the heart of the mystery.

Celebrating Lost Voices: Roger Longrigg

Each month, Sapere Books spotlights an author whose books have gone out of print and whose work we are republishing, in an effort to revive the most vibrant and engaging voices of the past.

Born in 1929, Roger Longrigg was an impressively versatile author who wrote under several noms de plume. He used one of these – Frank Parrish – to pen the witty and suspenseful Dan Mallett Investigations, which Sapere Books is republishing. Set in the West Country of England in the 1970s, the cosy mystery series follows a crafty and likeable poacher as he unravels various crimes in the area – often committing several felonies himself in the process.

With its deft humour, clever plotting, and immersive rural setting, the first book in the series – Fire in the Barley – has been described by Roald Dahl as ‘exciting and funny from beginning to end’. The protagonist, Dan Mallett, has been praised as ‘a fully-fledged, all-of-a-piece original character in a well-conceived, excitingly paced story’ (The Times).

 

Roger’s daughter, Laura Longrigg, reflects on his life and career:

“Roger Longrigg worked in advertising in London in the early 60s; it’s also the setting of his first novel, A High-Pitched Buzz, full of the wild, clever, sexy, heavy drinking characters familiar from the cult TV series Mad Men of the same era.

“He dreamed of being a full-time writer but, despite receiving glowing reviews (including comparison to Evelyn Waugh), the book only earned him £100.  His agent said, ‘You need to write three books a year to support the family, but not even Dick Francis fans want to read three of his in 12 months.’  So Roger wrote series of novels under different pseudonyms, eight in all. They include Laura Black: Scottish-based bodice-rippers; international espionage thrillers to emulate Ian Fleming under the name Ivor Drummond and psychological suspense by Domini Taylor, which included Mother Love, turned into an award-winning TV drama starring Diana Rigg. Perhaps most successful was Frank Parrish, creator of poacher turned detective Dan Mallett; the first in this series, Fire in the Barley, won the John Creasey Dagger in 1977 for best first novel. Roger had to turn it down, because it was actually his 26th!

“In all, Roger wrote 55 books of fiction and non-fiction; he thoroughly enjoyed the subterfuge of being behind so many different personalities and genres and it’s thrilling that he is about to find a whole new generation of readers through Sapere’s reissues, and that his real name can be revealed at last.”

 

Click here to order Fire in the Barley

Click here to find out more about the Dan Mallett Investigations